Improvement in apparatus for lowering and sinking shaft and well tubes



stratums.

U I ED STATES PATENT OFFICE;

JOSEPH CHAUDRON, OF BRUSSELS, BELGIUM.

IMPROVEMENT IN APPARATUS FOR LOWERING AND SINKING SHAFT AND WELL TUBES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 136,031, dated February 18, 1873.

Toy all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOSEPH UHAUDRON, of Brussels, Belgium, have invented certain Improvements in Sinking Pits or Sh afts for Mines, Wells, and other purposes, and Lining for the same, of which the following is a specification:

The object of this invention is an improved method of lowering apparatus employed for boring or sinking shafts and pits for mines, wells, and other purposes, through aqueous. The invention consistsin a mode of lowering the cylindrical casing and moss-box into the shaft or pit by means of an equilibrium-tube fixed upon a dishsh aped diaphragm secured to the cylindrical casin g near the bottom thereof; the said equilibrium-tube allow iug water to be admitted into the inside of the casing, to enable the said-casing to be lowered until it touches the bottom of the shaft, and allowing it to be cleared and communication to be maintained between the upper part of the shaft and the lower part thereof.

For the purpose of illustrating the manner of employing my improved equilibrium-tube and its diaphragm, I will describe, in detail, one of the forms of cylindrical casings for shafts, pits, &c., and the manner of operating the same.

The letter A designates a strong cast-iron cylinder, shown in part sectional elevation in Figure 1, constructedof a somewhat smaller di; ameter thanthe boring, havingat bottom an external flange, a, the extreme diameter of which corresponds as nearly as practicable with the diameter of the boring. The upper end of this cylinder fits like a gland into the lower end of a second strong cast-iron cylinder, B, whichhas also an external flange, 12, equal in diameter to that of the shaft or well, the two united together and calked with lead or other suitable calking-material. The space formed on the external surface of the bottom cylinder, between its lower flange and the flange of the upper cylinder, is filled in with moss or other similar suitable substance, 0, which is to act as a'packin g between the lower cylinder and the side of 'the shaft or well. The lower cylinder A is suspended from the upper one, B, by means of suspension-bolts D passing through an inner flange, E, formed on the upper end of the former, and through a ring, F, resting upon flanges (1 formed on the upper cylinders, in such manner that when the lower cylinder is in place at the bottom of the boring the upper one is free to slide down upon it, and thus compress the moss packing, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. To the upper cylinder B is now fixed a third cylinder, B, by means of bolts passing through the internal flanges c, a water-tight joint being insured by means of lead packing between the meeting surfaces. To a flange, d, on the interior sun face of this third cylinder is bolted a strong diaphragm, G, of an inverted dished form, so as to withstand considerable pressure from below. In order to facilitate the subsequent removal of this diaphragm, it is preferred to make it of a somewhat smaller diameter than the cylinders, and to fix thereto a ring, H, by which it is connected to the flange d. In the center of this diaphragm is formed an opening, g, to which is fixed a pipe, I, passing vertically up through the cylinder. cylinder B is now fixed a fourth one, B, also in a water-tight manner, and the four thus combined are then lowered by suspension -rods J fixed, in a ring, K, into the boring, until, by the aid of the diaphragm, they float in the water contained therein. Other cylinders are now placed in succession in a like water-tight manner tothose in the boring, which are consequently made to sink gradually down from the superadded weight, which sinking is regulated by the suspension-rods or chains worked from above, and also by letting in a certain quantity of water above the diaphragm G through the central tube-I. This tube also serves to allow clearing implements to be passed down the boring below the diaphragm,

in order to clear out any dbm's before the cylindrical lining arrives at the bottom. When the bottom cylinder has arrived on the seat formed for it in the impermeable stratum, below the aqueous stratums, the bottom cylinder is pressed by the superincumbent weight down over the gland-cylinder A, thus very forcibly compressing the moss packing c, as before described, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. A watertight packing is thus formed around the lower end of the cylindrical lining, which prevents the water of the upper stratums from penetrating into the interior of the lining from below. An annular space, h, exists between the outer surface of the cylindrical lining and the Upon the surface i of the boring, which is now by preference filled in with concrete, as, although the moss packing at the bottom and the watertight joints of the lining prevent the penetration of the water to the interior, yet it is well to guard, by this means, efiect'ually against any leakage that may take place in the lapse of time. This filling in with concrete may be effected by means of narrow boxes, constructed as shownin elevation at Fig. 5, the bottoms k of which are connected by rods Z to a cover or piston, t, attached to a long rod, K, worked from above. These boxes are filled with concrete, and are lowered in the annular space, at the bot-tom of which the concrete is made to pass out of the box by forcing down the bottom-k and piston 2'.

When the cylindrical lining has been made perfectly water-tight, and all communication with the aqueous stratums cut 0d, the water is emptied out of the cylinders and the diaphragm removed. A strong segmental ribbed cast-iron curb or sill, shown at 0 in sectional elevation and plan in Figs. 3 and 4, is then, by preference, firmly fixed in the boring a short distance below the lower end of the glandcylinder A, and a segmental connecting-cylin- TVitnesses:

DU JEUXRU, B. S. KIRKPATRICK. 

